To add on to Uncle Erik's post, anyone thinking about a balanced amp also needs a balanced source component. While there are balanced amps with built-in phase inverters, that is not the ideal way to go about achieving a balanced system. A proper balanced system has a source component with dual-differential balanced XLR output with a minimum of two stereo DAC chips, one per channel (more are preferrable to minimize noise), or alternately a minimum of 4 mono DAC chips, 2 per channel.
I see lots of people on Head-Fi wanting to buy everything as cheaply as possible. While it's natural to want to minimize cost,
good balanced equipment isn't cheap. It costs serious money. In fact, I might be so bold to state that anything that claims to be balanced and is cheap is most likely cutting corners somewhere. Anyone seriously looking to get into balanced gear should be prepared to pay for it.
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KingStyles said:
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You can get a balanced beta22 used a lot of times for about $1000. Great amp if you can find one.
A
balanced B22 for $1K would be extremely unlikely unless a seller was being extra generous. $1K is a typical amount for unbalanced B22s. I paid ~$1.8K for the 4-channel balanced B22 that I used to own (which I commissioned, didn't buy it used).